From: Geri, Laurance <GeriL@evergreen.edu>
Date: Monday, May 3, 2021 at 3:02 PM
To: All Staff & Faculty DL <AllStaffFaculty@evergreen.edu>
Cc: Betz, Amy <betza@evergreen.edu>, Metzker, Julia <metzkerj@evergreen.edu>, McAvity, David <mcavityd@evergreen.edu>
Subject: Everyone:

The New Directions initiative continues to move forward.  Thanks to the many faculty and staff who have contributed to this effort. Over the last several weeks the project leadership team has been working with the project team leads, the project Steering Committee, the Student and Academic Life Leadership Team (SALLT) and others to finalize an implementation schedule for the various elements of the project.  I’ll summarize below where these elements are, as some are still in a design phase, others are moving toward initial implementation, and the Paths project is deep into implementation. 

As Interim Provost David McAvity has shared in some earlier communications, the elements of the project we will focus on over the next several months will be Paths, Certificates, and Flexible Studies, or “Flex.”  These are the cornerstone elements of the initiative that offer the greatest opportunity over the next 12-15 months to help us meet the project’s key goal of raising our enrollments.  By the end of the academic year the project leadership team will complete a detailed report on the initiative that will include an updated implementation plan.   

The Paths project has made excellent progress under Amy Betz’ leadership.  On April 15^th a key feature went “live,” as students’ could indicate in the Academic Progress section of their My Evergreen account if their preferred learning approach was to design their own Path, or follow a pre-planned Path, and if the latter to indicate what Path or Paths (up to two) they intended to follow.  Students who respond (so far, 280 as of April 26th) will receive communications about specific advising opportunities, events, and updates in curriculum to support them in their education.  Thanks to the hard work of many faculty members and the campus Web Team, we have also updated the college’s Fields of Study webpages and the Paths pages.  And Amy offered several advising sessions to faculty and staff to provide them with a detailed update on the overall project.  

The Certificates team led by Sue Feldman and Abir Biswas has completed a draft certificate policy and a draft certificate design handbook that continue to be refined as they work with faculty, work force partners and the implementation team to establish how the college infrastructure will support both grad-applicable and non-grad-applicable credit certificates. The group is also developing a proposal for administrative support for our certificates program through the School of Professional Studies.  And a team is developing a college-wide policy for self-supporting programs such as summer school and certificates.  We are starting off Fall 2021 with a few certificate options that you will be hearing about soon. 

The team developing a proposal for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies completed an initial draft proposal that was shared with the SALLT.  Since our intent is to rename Evergreen as a university, this structure is likely to emerge as the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, with a Graduate School and School of Professional Studies.   

A major focus of New Directions over the next year will be our efforts to expand access to educational opportunities for working students, returning adults and other students wanting to complete an unfinished degree, get additional credentials to support their career, or explore other educational interests.  This will entail expanding access to online and part-time pathways to degree, especially in areas connected to workforce development and other areas of high student demand.  It will also require coordination with certificates and Paths, and development of sensible support structures.   We are calling this effort “Flex,” short for flexible studies.  As David McAvity shared last week, Lori Blewett will lead this work and is working with us to pull together a team for this project, while he refines a charge and workplan for this work.  The goal is to complete a detailed Flex proposal by the end of this summer.  David provided more details on the Flex model in an email this morning and will provide additional information at the faculty meeting this Wednesday, May 5^th.  

The Capstone workgroup led by Stacey Davis has made significant progress, starting with the team’s consensus definition of a capstone project.  They agreed that the equity goal for Evergreen should be the availability and support for all students to make the choice to undertake capstone experiences, rather than a capstone “requirement.”  The group will partner with the LTC to create a series of short videos and documents giving examples of current (spring 2021) students explaining their capstone projects/experiences and the steps they took to prepare for their capstone.  The group is likely to be on hiatus during summer ’21 and return to the project in fall ’21 should the college commit to implementation.  

The Holistic Advising team is preparing an application for Title III funding for the project, entitled “Holistic Advising:  Coordinated Services and Technologies with Community and Career-Connected HIPs.”  The proposal focuses on activities that provide robust and integrated Coordinated Technology Support, coordinated services to meet student basic needs, and build resilience and student success strategies; systematized advising practices focused on faculty/staff partnerships and navigational support; and community and  career connected learning to promote student goal setting, confidence in career options, and access to high impact community-engaged practices through Advising connections to faculty and alumni.  We anticipate an early June deadline for this grant proposal.   

The HAPPieR (Holistic Advising: Policy & Practices Review) team worked in sub-teams during fall and winter quarters to discuss and make recommendations on syllabi and credits; evaluations; and academic standing and required leave. The focus was on policies and practices that may create obstacles for students.  The group has completed a draft report which is available on the New Directions website at https://sites.evergreen.edu/newdirections.  

We are continuing to work on development of Paths in psychology and health, and in business and entrepreneurship.  Elizabeth Williamson is working with the psychology and health faculty, and I’m working with the business and entrepreneurship faculty.     

I’m pleased to share that the team developing the Center for Climate Action and Sustainability completed a position description and job announcement for the position of Center Director, and the search process is underway.  The group hopes to hold interviews in late May or early June with candidate selection around end of the academic year.  The candidate selected will likely begin in August or September 2021.   Please share the announcement for the position widely with your colleagues and networks: https://evergreen.peopleadmin.com/postings/2787.   

There will be a meeting on May 12th of faculty and staff who developed and supported the Interdisciplinary Arts and Design proposal crafted last year, plus those involved in the Interdisciplinary Computer Science Big Bet proposal.  The group will explore opportunities for cross disciplinary program and Path planning between visual arts, media arts, and computer science, ideas for certificate programs that link design and technology, and discuss the potential to design a concrete proposal for funding.  

Finally, several planned summer institutes relating to the project are being planned including: 

7/12-13 SPRJ03 School of Professional Studies (Days 1 and 2); 7/23 (Day 3)   
7/22-23  SP04 Holistic Advising: Supporting the Whole Student through an Equity Lens  
7/22-23  SPRJ00 Climate Center Launch 5  
7/23; 7/29-30  NTS04  Designing Certificates (Embedded or Stand-alone) with Support! 
8/12  TE08   Effective Capstone Experiences  

Thanks everyone!   Please send any comments or suggestions to bigbets@evergreen.edu. 

Best–

Larry
Larry Geri, DPA
Curriculum Dean, The Evergreen State College

From: McAvity, David
Date: Monday, May 3, 2021 at 11:29 AM
To: All Staff & Faculty DL

Dear Colleagues, 

I am writing to let you know of the next steps to expand educational opportunities at Evergreen designed for working students, returning adults and others who want to complete an unfinished degree, get additional credentials to support their career, or explore other educational interests. Such students seek more flexible and targeted options than those that are currently provided by our central Olympia undergraduate curricular model of daytime, fulltime 16 credit in-person coordinated studies programs.  

We can expand access to an Evergreen education to grow our enrollment in a way that complements our current model, by adding flexible pathways (FLEX) to a degree or micro credentials in curricular areas with high student interest and relevancy to workforce development in our region.  Our plan is to coordinate much of the new FLEX curriculum through certificate programs administered in a School of Professional Studies. 

Goals: 

1. Increase the number of part-time, online, low residency opportunities for schedule-bound students to reach a degree or another credential.
2. Expand the educational offerings in key curricular areas where there is demonstrated student interest, particularly those that serve the professional development and workforce needs of the region. 
3. Establish an administrative infrastructure to support and sustain FLEX pathways to degree.  

Charge: 

I am charging work groups to address the following. 

1. Start a School of Professional Studies.
2. Integrate Evening and Weekend Studies with the rest of the undergraduate curriculum.
3. Identify new FLEX options in our current Paths.
4. Develop support structures and standards for online and low residency learning.

I am looking for faculty and staff who would like to serve on one or more of these.

Timeline: 

The aim is to start the School of Professional Studies with new curriculum planned by fall 2022. The design work will occur this spring, through the summer and into fall 21. Planning and Implementation will occur in the 21-22 academic year.  I will share more about this work in the week 6 faculty meeting and in the SAL staff meeting the next week. Please see the videoof my presentation, and the attached power point, for more information. 

Best wishes, 

David  

David McAvity | he-him | Interim Provost and Vice President for Student & Academic Life | The Evergreen State College | 360.867.6400

From: McAvity, David <mcavityd@evergreen.edu>
Date: Monday, May 3, 2021 at 11:29 AM
To: All Staff & Faculty DL <AllStaffFaculty@evergreen.edu>

Dear Colleagues, 

I am writing to let you know of the next steps to expand educational opportunities at Evergreen designed for working students, returning adults and others who want to complete an unfinished degree, get additional credentials to support their career, or explore other educational interests. Such students seek more flexible and targeted options than those that are currently provided by our central Olympia undergraduate curricular model of daytime, fulltime 16 credit in-person coordinated studies programs.  

We can expand access to an Evergreen education to grow our enrollment in a way that complements our current model, by adding flexible pathways (FLEX) to a degree or micro credentials in curricular areas with high student interest and relevancy to workforce development in our region.  Our plan is to coordinate much of the new FLEX curriculum through certificate programs administered in a School of Professional Studies. 

Goals: 

1. Increase the number of part-time, online, low residency opportunities for schedule-bound students to reach a degree or another credential.
2. Expand the educational offerings in key curricular areas where there is demonstrated student interest, particularly those that serve the professional development and workforce needs of the region. 
3. Establish an administrative infrastructure to support and sustain FLEX pathways to degree.  

Charge: 

I am charging work groups to address the following. 

1. Start a School of Professional Studies.
2. Integrate Evening and Weekend Studies with the rest of the undergraduate curriculum.
3. Identify new FLEX options in our current Paths.
4. Develop support structures and standards for online and low residency learning.

I am looking for faculty and staff who would like to serve on one or more of these. 

Timeline: 

The aim is to start the School of Professional Studies with new curriculum planned by fall 2022. The design work will occur this spring, through the summer and into fall 21. Planning and Implementation will occur in the 21-22 academic year.  I will share more about this work in the week 6 faculty meeting and in the SAL staff meeting the next week. Please see the video of my presentation, and the attached power point, for more information. 

Best wishes, 

David  

David McAvity | he-him | Interim Provost and Vice President for Student & Academic Life | The Evergreen State College | 360.867.6400

From: McAvity, David <mcavityd@evergreen.edu>
Date: Friday, March 26, 2021 at 12:45 PM
To: All Faculty <allfaculty@evergreen.edu>, All Staff <allstaff@evergreen.edu>

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing with an update on some of our New Directions initiatives and to signal where we are focusing our work this spring.  I am attaching an  initiative tracker that gives a graphical representation of our progress so far and shows how we currently expect the work developing over the next two years. You can see more details about each initiative on the New Directions website. Because the many tracks of New Directions are all interrelated and are key to the overall success of our New Directions conceptual plan, it is important that we keep them all in view and moving along.  

At the same time, there is only so much collective capacity to engage with everything at the same time. In this note I’d like to lay out where we will focus our New Directions time and energy for the next 6-12 months. We need to concentrate on areas where we are mostly likely to see a significant impact on enrollments by Fall 22. 

1. Paths phase 2: student engagement:
   In fall and winter quarters there has been an intense cross divisional effort to make our Paths visible to students. This is a multilayered project. It involves, first, rebuilding building out our Fields of Study webpages and connecting Fields of Study to the Paths that support them.  Second, we are providing a way for students to tell us how they intend to structure their learning journey here: whether they plan to follow one of our Paths or find their own way, and which Fields of Study they have an interest in.  We will use their responses to link them with Path groups and provide advising better tailored to their needs. And third, we are creating journey maps for prospective and current students to help with admissions counselling and advising. There are also other innovations that are under development.  Amy Betz is the project manager for this work and will have an update with more details soon. I am particularly appreciative of the work the CAT leaders have put into moving this work along, and the enrollment team, marketing team, web-team, student engagement, academic advising, institutional research, and development teams for the collective effort to help bring Paths alive. 
    
2. Certificates, and the School of Graduate and Professional Studies:
   In winter quarter you may have heard some information about certificates and the process by which we will design and support them from Sue Feldman and Abir Biswas. The implementation team is preparing policies and systems to help us launch 4-5 pilot certificates by Fall 21. Our intention is to build a structure to support many more certificates to launch in Fall 22. In spring and summer, we will roll out the process by which faculty can propose and design certificates, and the way they will be approved and supported.  Some certificates may be based on repeating curriculum faculty already offer in their programs and courses, and others will be comprised of new curriculum we develop. We will be prioritizing certificates in areas where we see high student interest and where there are regional workforce and professional development needs. The new School of Graduate and Professional studies will be the primary curricular structure to develop and support such certificates. Sue and Abir will be sharing more in the coming weeks. 
    
3. FLEX: Online and Part-time pathways to degree
   Part of our New Directions strategy is to expand access for working adults and other students wanting to complete an unfinished degree, get additional credentials to support their career, or to explore other educational interests. Such students need more flexible options than those that are currently provided by our central Olympia undergraduate curricular model of 16 credit in-person coordinated studies programs. We can expand access for these students by offering flexible pathways to a degree or other credentials in curricular areas with high student interest and relevancy to workforce development in our region. Flexible options can include part-time, online, and or alternative schedules. The working name for this set of flexible pathways for completing a degree or credential is FLEX. I will be charging a working group in spring to identify the ways we will develop and sustain a clear and coherent curriculum for students wishing to learn online and part-time. We must also build high touch support structures for these students. Some of this curriculum may be linked to our current Paths, and Programs/Schools, and some may be provided through certificates and degree completion programs in the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.  

These three interrelated initiatives will be the primary focus of our collective New Directions work in spring quarter and summer quarters. They will tie into the Holistic Advising and Reimagining Student Affairs efforts. The workgroups for other components of New Directions may continue to do some design and development during this period. However, much of this requires faculty meeting time, and time with the implementation team. This time is scarce at the moment. The pause on some of these other initiatives will allow us to align the work so that faculty discussion and proposed changes to systems and policies, such as the faculty handbook, the online academic record, and transcripts can be coordinated.   

Larry Geri will connect with the leads of all the New Directions workgroups for a status update and project plan for next year and will share a report with the college community before the end of spring quarter. That report will share our accomplishments so far and map out the next phase of New Directions for next year. 

Thank you to all of you across the college who are contributing to the success of this large, exciting initiative.  

Best,

David

Please register at the link below to attend. 

Wednesday | Week 7 | February 17, 2021
Registration Link: evergreen.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArd–prTMuGtBoXUriBMxBFyZRmYBX30kS
(You need to register to receive the meeting link)

1:00-2:15 pm – Olympia Undergraduate NAD Proposal: Curricular Areas, Upper Division Credit, Emphases

Hosted by Steven Hendricks and members of the Standing Committee on the Curriculum
Join  to continue the discussion about the Olympia Undergraduate School Proposal shared in today’s faculty meeting
Live Notes | proposal attached

2:15-2:45 pm 30 minute break – perhaps a snowy walk?

2:45-4:00 pm Holistic Advising: What is the ideal role for faculty in advising and mentoring?

Allen Thompson & Therese Saliba
An opportunity to share your perspectives on faculty’s role in advising as a follow up to today’s faculty meeting.
Faculty Meeting presentation | Faculty Advising Survey data (Access Code = greener2021)

If you haven’t had a chance to respond to the faculty advising survey, there is still time to add your voice!
evergreensc.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0IzKoptYO4XOpuJ

Starting in January 2021, each New Academic Directions workgroup will post monthly updates on their progress for the Evergreen community.  This post is a round up of January progress notes.

Advising Roles and Expectations

Curricular Coherence Workgroups

And if you missed the last update, you can read it here:

All staff and faculty are invited to join the 2020-2021 “kick-off” November 4th 2-4pm.  This community event is designed to give the Evergreen community a chance to learn more about the work and provide feedback.  Join us for critical conversations about how New Academic Directions will build a new future for Evergreen.

NOTE: To reduce the chance of zoom-bombing, all session links are available through the program, which requires you to login using your my.evergreen.edu username and password.  If you have challenges accessing the program, please contact JuliA Metzker.

2:00 – 2:30 Community Welcome (zoom link)
Interim Provost, David McAvity will provide context about the parts of the New Academic Directions work that has been prioritized for this academic year, including an overview of plans for enhancing and advancing Paths of Study and updates on Certificate development.
[View recording, Passcode= ftEuL@9@]

2:30 – 4:00 Concurrent Workgroup Sessions
All staff and faculty are invited to join one of the following concurrent sessions.  During these 90-minute concurrent sessions, workgroup leads and others will collectively reflect on the charge and discuss how this work will contribute to Evergreen’s future success.

• Capstone (zoom link) Are you interested in expanding access to capstone or signature work experiences for Evergreen students?  Come to this session to learn more about the work completed this summer.  This workgroup is currently seeking members!
• School of Graduate and Professional Studies (zoom link): Join the graduate program directors for a conversation about how a school of graduate and professional studies can improve success and increase enrollment for current graduate students.
• Undergraduate School/College – Standing Committee on the Curriculum (zoom link): The Standing Committee on the Curriculum will continue work on developing models for the Olympia undergraduate curriculum.  Join this session to learn more about their plans and provide feedback on the models and/or process.
• Hybrid-Online Learning (zoom link): 8-10 faculty will be selected to complete a certification course in hybrid and online learning through the Online Learning Consortium to develop and teach online/hybrid offerings in 2020-2021.  This group will also develop recommendations for increasing online and low-residency programs and certificates. Come to this information session to learn more about this opportunity.
• Certificates (zoom link): The certificates workgroup is working to develop a process for reviewing and implementing new certificate programs.  Join this session to learn more about their work.  Bring your ideas for new certificates!
• Paths of Study (zoom link): In coordination with the Curricular Area Team Leaders, the Paths of Study workgroup will continue work to develop and promote paths of study.
• Holistic Advising – Academic Policy and Practices Review (HAAPPieR) (zoom link):A group of faculty and staff are reviewing current academic policies and practices with an eye towards equitable student outcomes.  How might our academic policies and practices become tools for equity?
• Workforce Development (zoom link):This workgroup will build on Evergreen’s strengths to contribute to regional, state, and national workforce development by developing low-residency curricula and/or certificate programs that respond to established and emerging workforce needs.

More details including membership for each workgroup are available in the New Academic Directions 2020-2021 Kick-off program.

The New Academic Directions workgroups will “kick-off” at the Week 6 Curriculum Planning Retreat. The Evergreen community is invited to join November 4th 2-4pm to learn more about the project and provide input. More details on the event to follow.

• 1:00 – 1:45 Part I: Workgroup lead Orientation
• 2:00 – 2:30 Part II: Community Welcome
• 2:30 – 4:00 Part III: Workgroup Meetings & Listening Sessions

The 2020-2021 New Academic Direction Workgroups were announced by David McAvity, Interim Provost on October 22nd. Click the post below to read the announcement.